


A proposal, of sorts.

by nirroca



Series: Lavender [22]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: AND SOME SEX, Bisexual Cassandra Pentaghast, Established Relationship, F/F, Modern AU, Oral Sex, POV Cassandra Pentaghast, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Romantic Fluff, Vaginal Fingering, ellassandra, expected cassandra angst when anthony is involved, giving cassandra the romance she deserves, sorta christmassy, theres a lot of feels here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:28:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22169428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nirroca/pseuds/nirroca
Summary: After she lost Anthony, and moving away from what was left of her family Christmas never felt like something worth celebrating. Of course Ellana changes that.
Relationships: Female Inquisitor/Cassandra Pentaghast, Female Lavellan/Cassandra Pentaghast
Series: Lavender [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/607711
Comments: 13
Kudos: 55





	A proposal, of sorts.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I intended to have this ready for christmas but I spent far too much time in my head over thinking this, so I've only just finished it now. Better late than never right?

Christmas was… odd. For both of them. After the passing of her Brother and moving away from the last of her family for work it had just become another day for her. She would volunteer to work Christmas Day so that her partner Cullen could spend time with his small family and some years the day was more chaotic than others but it always ended the same - Cassandra going to a late night church service before heading home to her sparse studio apartment and eating reheated leftovers before going to bed.

She knew some people pitied her for how she spent her Christmas, and without fail Leliana invited her to spend the day with her and her wife Sophia every year. But Christmas felt solemn after she lost Anthony so she spent the day remembering those that she had loved and lost over the years.

That was until she met Ellana.  
  
It was chance that she set foot in that particular record store that rainy afternoon. A chance that had ended up changing her life. Leliana keeps telling her that she doesn’t think she’s ever seen her this happy the entire time they’ve known each other. Something that she knows is true, not that she’d ever give Leliana the satisfaction of admitting that she’s right. Which she suspected Lelina knew. 

This is their first Christmas together and Cassandra wants to make it special, but at the same time she doesn’t want to make that big of a fuss over things. 

Which is how she found herself on Christmas Eve wandering through a busy department store trying to find the perfect gift for Ellana. A futile exercise in the end because she leaves grumpy and empty handed an hour after she arrived, irritated more by the mindless crowds than her lack of ideas.

Driving home she thinks about what she knows about Ellana. She knows she loves art - the tattoos that cover her body was proof of that. She knew she loved music, coffee, sunrises, thunderstorms, morning sex, and more recently _her_. 

Knowing all these things about her didn’t help though. Neither did the fact that Ellana didn’t celebrate Christmas at all. She wasn’t as devout as Cassandra was in her own faith, but it was there and no less a part of her. Something that Cassandra respected and didn’t want to encroach on for the sake of her own happiness.

She almost thought of abandoning the idea. But she hadn’t wanted anything to do with the holidays for so long she was hesitant to let the feeling go.

Surely there was something she could do? Could find something that worked for both of them? She muses to herself as she pulls into the reserved space in her apartment complex. The thought keeps bouncing through her mind as she watches the floors tick past on the elevator before finally stopping at her own.

She should just _ask_ Ellana, Cassandra admonishes herself as she digs her keys out of the pocket in her bag.

She’s confused when she opens the door, glancing around briefly before tossing her keys into the keybowl - a bowl that already has keys in it she notes - and hanging her bag and coat on the coat rack.

It was warm and the space is lit by the fireplace and the soft golden glow of candles littered around room. She doesn’t doubt who the culprit is, she just wonders what she’s done to deserve it. The smell of something cooking is coming from the kitchen, but the woman behind it all is nowhere to be seen.

“Oh good, you’re home,” Ellana greets her with a smile, stepping out of her bedroom and quietly closing the door behind her.

 _Home_ . It was. But some days it felt like something was missing. And right now she has a fair idea of what - _who_ \- that missing piece was. 

She doesn’t think she’d ever be able to describe Ellana as anything short of beautiful. In the dim light she’s radiant, her messily braided hair glows warmly in the candle light where it rests on one of her shoulders. Barefoot in torn blue jeans and a ‘borrowed’ button up shirt and grinning happily at her she’s the most welcoming sight Cassandra’s seen all day.

“So are you,” Cassandra replies not thinking.

“Am I?” Ellana teases, and Cassandra realises what she just said.  
  
“What’s all this for?” Cassandra asks curiously, changing the subject.

“Can’t a girl use her key to her girlfriends apartment and surprise her?” Ellana shrugs

“A surprise? For me?”

Ellana hums as she steps towards her closing the distance between them when she wraps her arms around her waist under her blazer, resting her head on the roundness of Cassandra’s shoulder.

Cassandra shifts, returning Ellana’s embrace with a sigh before reaching up to graze her fingers along the sharp line of her jaw, tilting her chin up so she can kiss her softly. She’s not surprised when Ellana responds with enthusiasm, fingers digging into her waist as she tries to pull her closer. She was always like this if they spent a few days apart, and Cassandra wouldn’t change a thing because she felt the same way. Felt like she couldn't get enough of her warmth, her smell, her kiss. 

“Dinner should be almost ready,” Ellana says breathlessly, pulling away from Cassandra with one last lingering kiss that leaves her tingling and with the beginnings of a hunger for something unrelated to food. 

Something she knows that Ellana knows judging by the sway of her hips as she makes her way into the kitchen. Two could play at that game Cassandra reasons to herself as she shrugs off her blazer, draping it over the back of an armchair. She watches Ellana work as she rolls up her sleeves and toes her loafers off, unbuttoning her shirt a few more buttons to make it more comfortable. She knew how Ellana felt about her looking this casual, and standing there in her cropped charcoal grey slacks and emerald green blouse - one that Ellana had bought for her not long after they started dating - she knows that she is having just as much effect on Ellana’s heart rate as she is currently having on hers. 

It was nice to be wanted Cassandra muses as she takes a seat at the breakfast bar, watching Ellana work with a curiosity she doesn’t voice. She knows Ellana won’t tell her what she’s cooking anyway so she’s content to just observe her as she moves around the kitchen.

“Can I ask what you’re making?”

“You can,”

“But you won’t tell me?”

“No,” Ellana replies, a cheeky grin lighting up her face. 

“Can I at least get something to drink?” Cassandra sighs, unpinning her braid and ruffling up her hair to soothe where it had been tight against her scalp. If Ellana wanted this to be a surprise she would let her have her fun. She enjoyed being doted on in Ellana’s favourite way to show that she cared - by doing things for her that they both enjoyed.

“You can,” Ellana replies making her way over to the fridge, returning with a bottle of Cassandra’s favourite white wine and a glass. She doesn’t need to be a detective to know that whatever Ellana has planned she wants it to be special. Leliana has taught her enough over the years to know that this particular wine goes well with one of her favourite foods - which definitely means that Ellana is trying to impress.

“How was your day vhenan?” Ellana asks, handing Cassandra her glass after she has taken a sip out of it. That Cassandra drinks from where Ellana's lipstick stains the rim is just chance. 

“It was… quiet. Tedious really. I'll be lucky if it stays that way until the New Year,” Cassandra sighs offering her glass to Ellana.

“They call it the silly season for a reason,” Ellana says drily taking the glass from Cassandra and draining whats left in one long gulp.

“Can you take these to the table for me?” Ellana asks pushing the bottle of wine and two glasses towards her. “The foods ready.”

She made her spinach and ricotta cannelloni. From scratch with hand made pasta and the feta she likes from a tiny deli downtown that also makes her favourite sandwiches. She’d taken Ellana there a few times because she knew she would like their coffee and was unsurprised that she made fast friends with the elderly woman that owned it - each visit on her lunch break usually saw her being asked about ‘her cielo’ and had her leaving with a promise to wish her well. It’s one of the best she’s ever had and before long her plate is clean and she happily sips from her glass as they share quiet conversation about their days while Ellana finishes her own meal. The reason Ellana has gone to the lengths she has still escapes her, but she’s not about to complain about the attention.  
  
She’s fairly certain that this isn’t all she has planned for her either when she refuses to even let her help clean up afterwards. She is however sent to the bathroom with the instruction to freshen up and the promise of Ellana joining her when she’s done. 

The hot water is a balm on her tired body and she stands under the spray letting it wash over her, the tension in her shoulders easing the longer she stands there. She’s not surprised when she feels arms snake around her waist from behind and feather light kisses caress her shoulder blades. Nor is she surprised when she feels herself being drawn out of the flow of water, the arms around her waist retreating. She turns to find Ellana leaning up against the tiles, her soft tattooed skin a bright contrast to the plain white of the tiled wall. She watches her through the steam awed by the tenderness in her gaze. Tenderness that is all for her.

The water is sweet against the saltiness of her skin as she kisses her, and Cassandra wonders if she’ll ever get tired of the taste of her like this. Or the feel of her body as it slides against hers, but pressed so close they move together as one fluid entity. She doubts she ever will. 

Ellana clings to her, moves with practiced ease when Cassandra helps lift her and wraps her legs around Cassandra’s hips. Normally when they find themselves like this Ellana is at her mercy. But now they are slow and unhurried, content to just enjoy the time that they have. 

“We’re wasting water,” Ellana sighs breathlessly pulling away from her, trying to regain her footing. Something Cassandra doesn’t make easy for her because she's currently more interested in tasting the drops of water that linger in the hollows of Ellana’s collarbones.

Her distraction is her downfall though because she doesn’t notice Ellana pushing her backwards into the showerhead until it's too late and she’s unceremoniously brought back to her senses with a faceful of hot water that leaves her sputtering. 

“We can continue this later,” Ellana promises with a grin, reaching for the bar of soap in the caddy on the wall. Ellana washes herself quickly before turning her attention to Cassandra. The intimacy of this - being washed by the woman she loves - never fails to overwhelm her. Because it's not something that Ellana does because she thinks that she’s incapable. She does it because she cares, her fingers cleansing away the stress of her day whilst the soap cleanses her and leaves her clean in more ways than one. It's sensual. Tender. Just like the woman that dotes on her. But not without teasing. A point proven when she feels thumbs brushing, and lingering over the metal bars in her nipples as Ellana washes the suds from her body. A discovery that Ellana still delighted in every time they had sex. An attention that Cassandra loved because of the different sensations that Ellana was able to provoke in her with just a twist or a pull with fingers or her tongue. 

But that teasing doesn’t go any further and Ellana’s absence feels cold when she turns off the water and steps out of the shower.

“What are you up to my love?” Cassandra asks as she dries herself, her curiosity finally getting the better of her. Ellana was _up_ to something and knowing her, that could mean absolutely anything.  
  
“You’ll find out soon enough,” Ellana grins handing her a tank top and sweatpants. Cassandra watches Ellana as she throws on one of Cassandra’s old academy shirts and sighs. This isn’t going to get her anywhere Cassandra muses as she dresses herself. 

And she expects nothing less.

“But if it makes you feel any better you don’t have to wait much longer to find out,” Ellana teases as she pulls on some sleep shorts that she keeps at Cassandra’s apartment. Along with the other items of clothing that have slowly found a space for themselves amongst Cassandra’s wardrobe.

“It would if I knew what you were up to,” Cassandra grumbles stepping towards her. 

“Come on then,” Ellana smiles as she takes her hand leading her through the living area to her closed bedroom door. This almost feels like something out of one of her books Cassandra muses as she looks around at the few tea candles that are still lit around the room. Except now she doesn’t know what romantic gesture she’s on the receiving end of. A fact she would be irritated by in any other situation. Or if she didn’t find the woman she loved so endearing when she was excited about something or trying to surprise her. 

“Close your eyes,” Ellana whispers and Cassandra does with a small huff of laughter.

She hears the door open and soft sound of Ellana’s bare feet on carpet walking away from her. She frowns when she hears the flick of a switch, the ruffle of fabric and then silence. She’s almost tempted to open her eyes but Ellana’s melodic voice finally fills the quiet between them.

“Open your eyes Vhenan,”

She doesn’t know what she expected to see in her bedroom, but the sight before her… isn’t it. 

The normally neat and orderly space is warmly lit by string lights draped around the room and her bed looks like every soft pillow and blanket she owns and a few more has found a home on it. Ellana sits on the edge of the bed with one of her legs tucked underneath her smiling softly at her, and if she didn’t know any better she would think that she was nervous.

But the sight before her it's… wonderful for reasons she can’t describe, so Ellana has nothing to worry about. 

“What’s all this for?” Cassandra asks, getting a better look around the room as she steps over the threshold. Her tv is on and open on some streaming service, but she pushes all thoughts about that out of her mind as she turns and faces the woman in front of her.

“You know how a few weeks ago you said that you’d never had a sleepover?” Ellana asks, reaching a hand out for her that Cassandra gladly takes. 

“Yes?” Cassandra sighs sitting next to Ellana.

“I had the idea a few days ago and something told me today was a good day to do it,”

“Is that so?” Cassandra asks, resting her chin on Ellana’s shoulder. Something that earns her a smile and a soft kiss on the lips. “What do you have planned my love?”

“I was thinking that we snuggle under some blankets and watch some movies. Maybe make out a little, see where that leads?”  
  
“Dinner _and_ a movie? You’re spoiling me tonight,” 

“Can’t a girl spoil the woman she loves?”

“She can,” Cassandra laughs, moving to make herself comfortable in the nest of blankets. After her irritation earlier in the evening she relishes in Ellana’s thoughtfulness. A part of her wishes that she hadn’t bothered to waste her time amongst the crowds hunting for last minute gifts and headed straight home after she left her office if this is what was waiting for her.

“It’s very thoughtful of you. Thank-you,”

“It's mostly selfish on my part, but you’re welcome,”

“Selfish?”  
  
“Hmm. I know you’re going to be busy with work for the next few weeks because of how you feel about the holidays. I wanted to spend what time I could with you,”  
  
Cassandra is more interested in watching Ellana’s face than she is paying attention to what she’s scrolling through on the television so it's a surprise when she hears the opening chords of her favourite serial  
  
“ _Swords and Shields_ ? I thought you thought it was cliched and predictable?” Cassandra asks curiously.  
  
“Yes well tonights about you not me,”  
  
Cassandra arches her eyebrow in askance to what Ellana means.

“You like it so it can’t hurt for me to try to see what you find so appealing,” Ellana shrugs.

Cassandra settles into a more comfortable position against the pillows and blankets that cover her bed, opening her arms so that Ellana can settle herself against her before she covers them both with one of her favourite blankets.

They’re halfway through one of the episodes when Cassandra feels her attention start to shift to the woman in her arms. She’s amused to find that Ellana is engrossed in the storyline and enjoying herself despite her earlier opinions about the series, gasping and sighing at dramatic moments. She’s watched this series more than she would like to admit, and the books that the series is based on even more times than that, so she knows whats going to happen. It was just amusing to see Ellana have the same reactions that she did the first time she read the series. 

“You know, I tried to go shopping for a Christmas gift for you today,” Cassandra says quietly when the episode finally ends and they wait for the next episode to start.  
  
“For me?” Ellana asks curiously.  
  
“Hmmm. I know you don’t celebrate the holiday but I... wanted to do something for you,”

“Really?” Ellana asks, shifting to prop herself up on her elbow.

“It's silly - ” Cassandra starts before being cut off.

“It's not silly if it's something you _want_ to do Cass,” Ellana admonishes her softly raking a hand through her messy blonde hair.

“I know,” Cassandra sighs. “It's just… This is the first time since Anthony that I’ve felt like I’ve wanted to do something because I actually have someone I want to share things with. But I was so worried about feeling like I was trying to force the holidays on you that I talked myself out of doing anything at all”

Ellana’s face softens at her words and in the warm light cast by the string lights everywhere her expressive green eyes seem to glisten more than usual.

“The fact that you were worried about it at _all_ is more consideration than most have given me in the past,” Ellana says quietly, running soft fingertips down her arm and threading their fingers together when she reaches her hand. “And it means - I’m honored that you feel that way about me, about _us_ ,”

The hitch in her voice makes the last of Ellana’s words feels like a question, and Cassandra feels she knows her well enough for that suspicion to be true.  
  
“You know I love you,” Cassandra starts, pausing to smile softly at Ellana and squeeze their joined hands. “And the fact that I love you means I want to share everything I care about with you. I just don’t know how to do that without feeling like I’m forcing this on you,” Cassandra finishes with a sigh.  
  
The silence between them feels longer than the handful of heartbeats it occupies. She’s vaguely aware of the noise coming from the television but anything that isn’t the woman in front of her doesn’t feel important enough to pay attention to. 

“We could compromise?” Ellana suggests.

“How?”

“We could figure out something that works for both of us and celebrate that instead?”

“Kind of like what we’re doing right now,” Cassandra muses playing with the fingers entwined with her own.

“For the most part,” Ellana agrees, but there's a vagueness to her words that Cassandra latches onto. She thought this surprise was all that Ellana had planned for her this night, but every one of her instincts tells her she’s wrong. Instincts that she’s spent years relying on for her work. Instincts that are rarely wrong, and make her one of the most competent Detective Seekers at the precinct. Not to mention they were instincts that had saved her life on more than one occasion. 

“This isn’t all you had planned for the night is it?” Cassandra asks, even though it isn’t a question.

“I - no it isn’t,” Ellana confirms after a moment of hesitation. “I should have known nothing would get past you,”

“I’m sorry,” Cassandra laughs softly.

“Don’t apologise. Your curiosity is one of the things I love the most about you,” Ellana says as she sits up. Cassandra frowns when she sees her digging through the mass of pillows and blankets beside her tilting her head in askance at Ellana’s grin when she finds whatever it is she was looking for, hiding it in her lap.

“You know how you were complaining months ago about how the last book in Swords and Shields ended and that you didn’t think the author wasn’t going to be writing any more of the series?”

“Yes?” Cassandra replies, confused at where Ellana is going with this. She never would have expected this turn of events, but - _that sneak_ \- of course. It's so obvious now.

“What if I told you that I happen to know the author?” 

“If you did I would ask why you never thought to tell me about it,” Cassandra huffs.

“I saw an opportunity, and Varric thought it was a _questionable_ idea but he agreed to go along with it for my sake,”

“How do you even know Varric?” Cassandra asks curiously. She knew Ellana knew a lot of people. But this was a connection that she never would have expected.

“He’s a friend Merril’s. He was at the studio when I was getting this,” Ellana pauses to show Cassandra the tattoo of the halla head that takes up most of her right forearm. “And we hit it off. He thought it was interesting that I used my skin to tell a story and that he used his words, and that the end results weren’t any less meaningful than the other,”

Cassandra had dealt with the irritating man a few times with her work, both in his capacity as a journalist and well known business owner and she usually was left with more questions than answers whenever she finished questioning him - much to her irritation.

“Does he know -”  
  
“That you’re my partner? Yeah. He was surprised at first but he figured I saw something in you that he didn’t and he saw how happy you’d made me since we got together so he figured I know what I’m doing. He does want to know what you think though,”  
  
“Think about what?” Cassandra asks in confusion.

“What you think about this,” Ellana replies, handing her what she had been hiding in her lap under the blankets. It's a hardcover book, and it's - _makers arse._ In her hands is an unpublished copy of the last installment of her favourite series - she’d hoped for years that Varric would finish this one day, and had all but given up hope that he would. She never asked him about it because it was the last thing that she ever wanted him to know about her. 

“This is? I don’t know what to say? Thank you Ellana, I - I love it,” Cassandra somehow manages to get out the words in an airy jumbled mess. But she knows that Ellana understands her.

“A giggle? From Detective Seeker Pentaghast? I have done well haven’t I,” Ellana teases her. Though her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes the way it normally does, and the way that she's nervously rubbing her palm with her thumb gives her pause. “I figured I would only get one chance to surprise you with this. Open it?”

Her words almost sound like a plea, though she isn’t sure why. Cassandra strokes the soft tassel of the bookmark that has been slid into the first pages of the book and with one last look at Ellana she opens it.

 _Maker_. 

Her breath catches in her throat at what she sees inside. And she looks up to see Ellana watching her with a hopeful look on her face so she knows this is serious.

But it's still a shock.

Marking the first chapter is a bookmark. But it's not the thing that's has her heart racing, pulse beating against her ribs. Part of it is the question neatly written on a post it note stuck to it. Most of it is the beautiful white gold ring that has been slipped into the plastic protector that covers the bookmark. 

It's the most romantic thing that's ever happened to her.  
  
“ _Will you marry me?_ ” it's four little words. But they’ve somehow managed to reduce her to a single whispered answer.

“ _Yes_ ,” Cassandra breathes, “Yes I will,” 

Ellana’s answering smile is radiant, and the relief she can see relaxing her features is palpable. Clutching the bookmark in her hand she pulls Ellana towards her, kissing her with the hope that she can say more with her mouth than with the words that always seem to fail her when she needs them the most.

She underestimates Ellana’s enthusiasm though and soon finds herself with her weight between her thighs. One of her hands exploring her body whilst the other finds a home in her hair, sending shivers down her spine when she feels nails against her scalp. Ellana takes the bookmark from Cassandra and pulls away from her, straddling her waist as she looks down at her. 

“Do you like the ring? I wasn’t sure what you would like,” Ellana asks quietly handing her the band with nimble fingers.

It's simple. White gold with a pale blue, almost green looking sapphire set in the middle, a thin row of diamonds embedded into the band framing the brilliant cut stone. It's beautiful, but subtle. Everything that she would have chosen for herself. What strikes her the most about it though is the colour of the stone, and the way it's facets sparkle even in the dim light.

“It's beautiful. I love it,” Cassandra replies, handing her the ring back, an unspoken request in the gesture.

Ellana smiles when she realises what Cassandra is asking her. Taking her hand she slides the ring onto her finger - a perfect fit. Cassandra doesn’t get the chance to admire it though, not with Ellana kissing the inside of her wrist, her teeth grazing the delicate skin before moving on, tracing a familiar path up her arm with her lips. She lingers on the sensitive spots on her neck and jaw, encouraged by Cassandra’s hands that have made their way under her shirt, scratching the skin on her back, one hand gripping her waist whilst the other traces the outside of her breast.

Cassandra sighs when Ellana’s lips finally meet hers, chuckling at Ellana’s groan as she kneads the softness of her breast with a gentle palm. She can feel herself getting worked up under Ellana’s ministrations, with the surety of her touch as she touches her body and the weight of her between her thighs as she gently rocks against her. In the love that she can feel in her kiss. If they don’t want this to go any further they need to stop, a thought that Ellana seems to sense.

“Do you want to stop?” Ellana asks her breathlessly.  
  
“No,” Cassandra reassures her with a peck on the lips. “But I have an early start so we can’t get too carried away,”

“Understood,” Ellana replies, pushing Cassandra’s tank top up enough to expose both of her breasts to her, giving them the same attention she had been giving her mouth moments earlier as she pushes her back into the pillows beneath her. She was good at this, and she knew it, and as she twists her tongue around one of nipples, sucking the tender flesh into her mouth, the bar of her piercing and her lips pulling in a way that leaves her breathless as she feels her desire grow. Knows that she won’t last long under Ellana’s focussed attention on her body and the parts of her she’s spent so much time exploring, learning by heart.

And she doesn’t. Ellana’s mouth on her sex is hot, and she bites and sucks at her clit with a gentle determination that leaves her gasping and crying out loudly as Ellana pushes her pelvis into the matress as she arches into her touch. Ellana’s mouth leaves her clit with a soft wet ‘pop’ and she's barely had time to taste herself on her lovers lips when she flips their positions, pinning Ellana beneath her.

Ellana’s breathy ‘please’ is all the invitation she needs as she slips her hand down the waistband of her shorts. It was no secret that Ellana enjoyed pleasing Cassandra, but each time the warm slickness of her against her fingers was heady. Tangible proof of Ellana’s attraction to her. Proof of how much she enjoyed the things that she did to her.

Her finger slips easily through her entrance, stretches her enough so that a second can join it before she searches for the familiar spot that makes Ellana fall apart. She knows she’d found it when Ellana gasps against her mouth. The longer she strokes the sensitive flesh the messier Ellana’s kisses become, and when she finally starts circling her clit with a gentle pressure from her thumb she can do little more than whimper and breathe hotly against her neck. She arches against her with one final gasp and Cassandra strokes the spongy flesh as Ellana’s walls clench around her fingers, the muscle pulling her deeper with every pulse before it fades into soft flutters.

The feeling never got any less satisfying, no matter how many times she found herself in this position. Now she gets to spend the rest of her life finding out if this continues to be true. A thought that leaves her giddy and full of hope for the future.

They only leave the bed to clean up, stripping out of their sweaty clothes before returning to the bedroom. There are more than enough blankets to keep them warm, and they have each other which is more than enough as far as Cassandra is concerned.

“I love you,” the last thing that Cassandra whispers against Ellana’s throat as she falls asleep in her arms.

  
  
  


She wakes the next morning while it's still dark, the smell of their lovemaking lingering lightly on the sheets that she’s cocooned herself in. Ellana sleeps peacefully beside her, and she feels a twinge of regret that she has to leave her so soon as she rises groggily out of bed.

She spends more time than she intended in the shower, mesmerised by the ring that looks perfectly at home on her finger and the way that is glistens under the flow of the water. Last night wasn’t a dream after all it seems, the proof of that shines brightly against her tan skin in the artificial light.

Ellana doesn’t stir as she moves around the room quietly to get ready for her day. She picks Ellana’s favourite shirt, a soft lavender that compliments her skin tone and goes well with her favourite gray cropped leg pants and blazer. She watches her, swamped by the blankets and duvet that she's curled in, hugging Cassandra’s pillow tightly against her chest. She pads quietly over to the bed and kisses Ellana softly on the forehead, not wanting to wake her.  
  
“See you tonight my love,” she whispers quietly, as she takes a moment to watch her sleep. 

She hopes her day is uneventful she muses as she slips on her loafers and shrugs on her coat. Knows that whatever happens it doesn’t matter. Because for the first time in her adult life she has someone that she looks forward to going home to. That she doesn’t have to spend Christmas alone dwelling on all the people she’s lost.

Not now that she has the chance to spend the rest of her life making new memories - to build a family with the woman that loves her as much as Cassandra loves her in return.  
  
Cullen was definitely working next Christmas, that's for sure.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed :) Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated.


End file.
